Goode Family Crest

The English and Irish surname Goode is a nickname from the Middle English term gode meaning “good.” The name may also derive from a medieval personal name, a survival of the Old English personal name Goda, which was in part a byname and in part a short form of various compound names with the first element god. When found in Ireland the name is most frequently found in the southern province of Munster, particularly in county Cork where it was brought by 16th Century settlers from England. The name is first found in the New World in 1638 when Thomas Good arrived in Virginia. Today there are 21,000 bearers of the name Goode living in the United States.